President Donald Trump was back on TV on Tuesday. Well, for a little while.

As you’re well aware by now, Trump and the U.S. news networks are feuding. Trump started it all Friday by banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House because, essentially, he is unhappy with their coverage of his presidency.

CNN is part of the TV pool that shares daily coverage of the president. The others in the TV pool — ABC, CBS, Fox News and NBC — showed solidarity and support for the network by refusing to participate in the White House TV pool as long as the ban is in place.

So why was Trump on TV on Tuesday? Because he spoke at the United Nations and his speech was carried by United Nations TV. That feed was shared with all the major news organizations.

The New York Times’ Michael M. Grynbaum and Katie Robertson wrote, “U.N. TV is filming speeches at the General Assembly, and many networks on Tuesday carried its feed of Mr. Trump’s address. In most cases, the networks included an onscreen caption that identified the U.N. as the source of the footage, to distinguish from their own cameras.”

Interestingly, one network did not carry Trump’s remarks live: CNN. The network, however, did carry short clips of Trump’s speech.

CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer told viewers, “Despite the White House barring CNN and other news organizations from the presidential press pool, we do have a live signal of the president’s remarks provided by United Nations television. We will monitor his speech and bring you any newsworthy moments as they happen.”

However, that doesn’t mean the testiness and pettiness are over. Trump snapped at one of his frequent targets: CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.

At the U.N., Collins tried to ask Trump about polling showing that most Americans don’t think the U.S. is winning the war in Iran.

Trump said, “It’s an honor to be here. I’m surprised that CNN is here covering me.”

Collins said, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.”

Trump responded by saying, “You should not be here covering me. You said you weren’t going to cover me. You shouldn’t be covering me.”

To be clear, CNN and Collins have not said they wouldn’t cover Trump. In fact, a CNN network executive told The Daily Beast’s Julia Ornedo, “We will not be deflected from our duty to hold the government and other public bodies to account, and we will continue to report on the actions and processes of this administration without fear or favor.”

CNN, MS NOW and Politico have sued the administration in an attempt to get their White House press credentials restored. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly has scheduled a videoconference hearing on the outlets’ request for 3:30 p.m. Eastern today.

Kelly was appointed to the bench by Trump, but he is also the judge who ordered the White House to restore the credentials of then-CNN reporter Jim Acosta after the administration revoked them in 2018.

Fact-checking Trump’s UN speech

Trump addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday for about 40 minutes, talking in part about the war with Iran.

Trump said, “I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?”

The New York Times wrote that Trump’s remarks were “rife with falsehoods and exaggerations.”

Poynter’s PolitiFact fact-checked the speech in its piece, “President Donald Trump misleads on Iran war, AI in speech to UN.”

Fox News aired Trump’s speech from beginning to end, while CNN didn’t air it live at all. Meanwhile, MS NOW cut away from Trump’s speech before it was over and immediately started fact-checking it.

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Rubio on ‘Today’

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday and defended Trump’s media actions during a testy exchange with co-host Craig Melvin.

Melvin asked Rubio whether he had any plans to ban any of the pool reporters who travel with him.

Rubio made this ridiculous claim: “Look, the White House feels very strongly and the president feels very strongly that the coverage he gets … and I can’t blame him. Look, I got to be honest with you, and maybe you’re not going to like to hear this, but I watch a lot of American news coverage, and it sounds, in some cases, for example, like they’re rooting for Iran. It sounds like they highlight anything Iran says in all their public statements as true and they downplay everything American officials say as wrong.”

Melvin didn’t push back on Rubio’s outrageous claim that media outlets are “rooting for Iran,” but he did ask if media outlets should be banned from covering the president simply because the president doesn’t like their coverage.

Rubio played semantics and said the outlets were not “banned,” adding, “They’re just not allowed to work from the workspace at the White House.”

Talking points

MS NOW congressional reporter Mychael Schnell got a juicy scoop Tuesday by obtaining a copy of talking points that the White House sent to Republican members of Congress in defense of Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House.

The talking points went out not long after the outlets sued the administration to get their White House credentials back.

Among the arguments the White House wants GOP lawmakers to stress is that “no president has been more transparent or offered more of his time to the press.” In addition, the memo says lawmakers should say that the First Amendment does not grant reporters access to the White House.

Two other talking points are:

• “No member of the public or the press has a freestanding constitutional right to access the White House complex.”
• “Fabricating facts or reporting verifiable falsehoods from inside the White House complex is an intentional breach of professional decorum and it is severely disruptive to the mission and purpose of the White House.”

Joke of the day

“Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon: “Over the weekend, Trump banned reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. In a related story, Melania just applied to be a reporter for CNN, MS NOW and Politico.”

‘60 Minutes’ ratings

“60 Minutes” correspondent Ross Douthat, left, interviews Patrick Clancy. (Courtesy of “60 Minutes”)

Ratings for last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” — the second show of the new season and the second episode under new executive producer Nick Bilton — are out. It drew 6.77 million viewers. That number is slightly up (5%) from the second show of last season, but down from the 7.9 million who watched the season’s premiere.

The ratings drop could be attributed, in part, to CBS not having the marquee Sunday late-afternoon NFL game this past weekend. Fox had the late-window big game featuring Dallas and Washington. (And, by the way, that Cowboys-Commanders game drew a huge number of viewers: 27.2 million.)

Last Sunday’s “60 Minutes” featured new correspondent Ross Douthat interviewing Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, who was charged with killing their three children (ages 5, 3 and 8 months) in January 2023. Her attorneys argued she was not criminally responsible because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis. It was Patrick’s first television interview since Lindsay’s criminal trial in Massachusetts ended in a mistrial earlier this month.

On Tuesday, “60 Minutes” released Douthat’s extended interview with Clancy.

“60 Minutes” will not air this Sunday because CBS is airing the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. The newsmagazine returns Oct. 4.

Swisher looks for exit

Now that the group of state attorneys general have settled their lawsuit with Paramount, the company’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to close within the next few weeks.

One person who won’t be a part of the new company is CNN contributor Kara Swisher. CNN is owned by WBD, but will soon become part of Paramount. Swisher has been critical of Paramount CEO David Ellison, as well as his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, and said in March, “I don’t think they’ll be good owners, I don’t. I think they’ve already shown several times, including editorial choices … that they have no interest in journalism. And I refuse to work for an organization that doesn’t respect journalists.”

Swisher, apparently, is staying true to her word. On the latest episode of the “Pivot” podcast with Scott Galloway, Swisher said, “I have asked my agent to get me out of my contract. It ends Dec. 31, so it’s only a few months, right? I just can’t. … I was trying to figure out ways I could work with them in some like licensing way, but then I thought, ‘(Expletive) these guys! I don’t want to work for them. I just don’t.’”

Media tidbits

• Speaking of the big media deal, here’s The New York Times’ David McCabe, Benjamin Mullin and Shawn Hubler with “How Paramount Won Warner Bros.”
• For the Columbia Journalism Review, Liz Skalka with “The Blade’s Shocking, Inevitable News.”
• The Hollywood Reporter’s Caitlin Huston with “Billy Bush Joins Fox News as Contributor.”

Hot type

• The New York Times continues with its list of “The 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century.”
• The Washington Post’s Travis M. Andrews with “We got a sneak peek at fall’s best movies. Here are 8 worth seeing.”

More resources for journalists

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• Learn Reporting for Detail and uncover the telling details great reporters don’t miss in this members-only webinar on Oct. 14, 2026, led by Poynter’s Kristen Hare. Join today to get access.
• Strengthen your investigative reporting with Will Work for Impact: Fundamentals of Investigative Journalism from Oct. 2-Nov. 3, 2026. Enroll now.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at tjones@poynter.org.

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